VOTE: Should reusable sanitary products be subsidized by the government?

The Montreal borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce is introducing a two-year pilot project that will subsidize the cost of reusable diapers and feminine hygiene products.

Given that one-time use products are both expensive and harmful to the environment, the new project, which starts mid-October, is aimed at those that struggle to make ends meet.

Citizens can receive a subsidy of up to $200 a year cloth diapers and $100 every two years for reusable menstrual products.

“There are two things we’re looking at here: we want to do all we can for the environment, but we also want to help families save money,” said borough Mayor Sue Montgomery to CBC.

The two-year project is expected to cost $60,000 and will save parents over $2500 in the long run, despite additional laundry costs, the borough found. In terms of environmental impact, the average woman disposes of an average of 290 menstrual products per year which would be eliminated by switching to reusable menstrual products.

In December of 2017, we asked a similar question after a post about a box of tampons at the Calgary airport went viral. With the washroom out of stock of feminine hygiene products which can usually be purchased for 50 cents from the vending machine, a woman was forced to buy a box of tampons at Relay for the whopping cost of $15.

After the post went viral, the store dropped the price of the tampons down to the regular cost of $6.95. We asked our readers “How much should pads and tampons cost in Canada?”

These were the results:

10% of people voted that the airport price of $15 was fine

43% of people voted that it should only cost a few dollars

47% of people voted that it should be free

So what do you think – should reusable diapers and menstrual products be subsidized? Vote in the poll above and let us know your thoughts in the comments section!